Mavericks take third in Scobey, Head to Eastern C Divisional

The North Country Mavericks Volleyball Team is headed to the Eastern C Divisional in Sidney as the third seed in the 1C District.

The team will face Broadus in the opening round at noon on Thursday, November 4. Though North Country has not faced the Bulldogs this season, Maverick Head Coach Charlene Wasson has respect for their program.

"Broadus comes from a pretty strong volleyball program," Coach Wasson said. "They have good solid attackers in all 3 spots in the back row and are scrappy on defense."

Coach Wasson said that the top three teams from the 2C District are comparable to the top three in 1C, so she believes that the competition will be very good.

The Lady Mavericks won their first two games of the District tournament defeating Richey-Lambert 3-1 in the opening round on Thursday, October 28, in Scobey. The team went on to beat Froid-Medicine Lake 3-2 in the quarterfinals on Friday, October 29, but lost 0-3 to Plentywood in the semi-finals on Saturday, October 30, and then 2-3 in the third-place match to Froid-Medicine Lake later that evening.

"The weekend was a great one for the Mavericks. We saw some great volleyball action in Scobey," Coach Wasson said. "Every team came to play and stepped up their game. Volleyball is truly a roller coaster ride for each match you play. We learned a lot from the weekend saw some improvements in areas we were a little weak in and still need to fix a few adjustments."

The scores in the Mavericks' first game against Richey-Lambert were NC 25 - RL 15, NC 25 - RL 13, and NC 25 - RL 19.

"I thought this was an excellent first match-up for us and allowed us to get the jitters of being at a tournament out of the way," Coach Wasson said.

Paige Wasson led the team in kills, with six. Wasson also had seven assists. Zandora Longtree had seven digs. Kendall Scheffelmear and Teagan Erickson had five kills. T. Erickson had five blocks.

The scores in the team's win over Froid-Medicine Lake were NC 27 - FML 17, NC 25 - FML 21, NC 13 - FML 25, NC 17 - FML 25, and NC 15 - FML 10.

Wasson led the Mavs with 15 kills. T. Erickson had 13 kills. Jaycee Erickson had 19 assists. Kora LaBrie had seven digs.

"We played tough in the first two sets of the match, winning them, and then we got a little nervous in the next two sets," Coach Wasson said. "But in the fifth set, we came out with pose and confidence. Our setters made some really smart selections with hitters and kept it rolling for us. Hitters did an excellent job of hitting around blocks, changing angles, and going with some tips and pushes over the net."

In their loss to Plentywood, the scores were NC 14 - PW 25, NC 4 - PW 25, and NC 20 - PW 25.

"We were a little overwhelmed in this match and got off to a very slow start in the first two sets," Coach Wasson said. "Slow starts make for hard recoveries in volleyball."

Coach Wasson said that the team struggled to pass the ball in their third-place match against Froid-Medicine Lake, which led to their defeat.

"We kept battling but came up short in this match and walked away with a third-place trophy for the third year in a row," Coach Wasson said.

The team hopes to be one of two teams to qualify for the State C Tournament in Bozeman.